How is the rehabilitation of Pablo Lima?

It is almost inevitable. Almost all professional players, at some point in their careers, have suffered some serious injury. Undoubtedly, they are very complicated moments in every way. At the physical level, after the pain and the passage through the operating room, the moment of recovery begins. And that process is what the preparers of Pablo Lima and Fernando Belasteguín have analyzed in great detail for the companions of World Pádel Tour.

Padel World Press .- To begin with, it should be noted that the rehabilitation of the players also goes through the psychological factor and it is vitally important to know how to manage the anxiety of not being able to compete, to remain at rest, to overcome the fears of dragging the ailments in the game … There are many emotions and feelings that can crowd the minds of any player and, in order to control them, you must have the support of their coaching staff.

Throughout 2015, the injuries have punished several players of the World Paddle Tour Circuit, among them Matías Marina, Alejandro Ruiz, Gerardo Derito, Andoni Bardasco and Pablo Lima.

As already recalled from the WPT, the Brazilian faces his third injury in just over a year but, fortunately, he is fortunate to have a team of professionals who monitor his rehabilitation and give him the emotional support he needs ... A 'team' who already has experience on how to proceed in these cases.

Tony Martinez, Pablo's physical trainer, earned his confidence in the first injury. They have already started with the recovery period, which will be slow but sure. In his talk with the colleagues of World Paddle Tour, and the question of whether they had thought to focus the tactical game more conservatively to avoid other future injuries, his response was blunt: "There is a lot of difference between training and competition. During games there are situations in which you can not control the movements of the player as you can in a training. When they jump to the track, and more in the case of players with claws such as Bela and Lima, it is impossible to ask them for caution; they're going to want to go for all the balls. "

For her part, Marcela Ferrari is the only woman in the world of paddle tennis who trains men and together with Miguel Sciorilli prepares world numbers 1. I was in Pavilion 9 of IFEMA with Pablo's wife when the Porto Alegre player broke the radius of his right arm… It was a bitter moment but I knew they would get through it. "I admit that tears came to my eyes when I saw him on the floor, but as soon as we were in the hospital, and I saw Pablo smile, the scare has passed."

The aforementioned Miguel Sciorili, the coach we see on the bench of Pablo and Bela celebrating each victory at his side, said he is very calm. "The injury happens at a time when we did not play anything anymore. Not being the dominant hand, Pablo will be able to make movements with his hand soon and sure he arrives in time to start the season. The team is not worried. "

They know they have work ahead but the three are convinced that everything will be fine ... And that both players will return with renewed energy and much desire when the 2016 season begins.

Before parting, Tony Martinez spoke about how it is possible to prevent injuries ... And this was his Master Class:

"When we talk about prevention in the world of paddle tennis, we have to take into account two types of measures that we can apply.

1. Those we adopted just before or after doing physical activity or paddle training.

• The warm-up. Vital before you start, to prepare the body and not suffer ailments.

To do this, we would make several movements, such as forward, backward, lateral, work mobility joints, shoulders, elbows, bending and extension of knees. It would also be very convenient rebound exercises, not passive, that is, to contract and relax the muscles. And we would also warm up practicing some jump of the ones we use for the tray or the auction so that the body prepares to perform those movements.

• Stretching. Once the warm-up or the match is over, try to gradually restore normality to the body. Stretching should be in a more passive way.

Not with rebound: stretch a particular muscle or a specific muscle chain. Hold the position and very important that it be without pain, that we do not suffer. We do not have to reach the limit of the movement, we simply want to relax the muscles. If you stretch very hard and there is a lot of pain, the body will not relax, and then we will not achieve the goal we want.

2. Those that we can apply after practicing paddle tennis. For example going to the gym, and working there a series of muscles that help us prevent injuries. To do this, you have to weigh:
3. a) The characteristics of each person. Each player has a specific body and that body is sure that it has a tendency to suffer injuries or pathologies in some specific areas. For example, players who have had old injuries. For example, those who have had ankle sprains continuously, they would have to reinforce all the muscles of the leg, the ankle, practice balance exercises, in short, strengthen the part of their body that is most sensitive to suffer these injuries so that they do not reproduce during training or the game.

In addition there are people who are more predisposed to suffer injuries or pathologies. Players who suffer a lot from the back, who suffer low back pain. Well, that person would have to prevent working the entire area of ​​the abdominals, the lumbar area, practicing pilates and other disciplines to prevent specific pathologies.

1. b) It is necessary to try to carry out an assessment by a specialist of those weakest points that the athlete has to face them. Going to the physiotherapist is important so that he can make an assessment and say what diagnosis we have.
2. c) It must be taken into account that each sport has its own characteristics. It is not the same to prepare the body to prevent injuries if we play soccer than if we play paddle tennis. In the case of paddle tennis, when we talk about prevention we have to take into account several specific points.

• Ankle and sprains. Paddle tennis is a sport where there is a lot of acceleration, a lot of braking. It depends a lot on the specific conditions of the track, sometimes you skid more, or skid less and that causes the ankle to be injured at the level of sprains. The ideal would be to strengthen all the muscles in that area. And do balance exercises that help us to strengthen the entire structure much more.
• Calf or Achilles tendon. We find many players who already have very shortened muscles in that part of the body. Due to lack of stretching or overload. Women, for example, if they wear a lot of high heels, that means that all the calf muscles are shortened a lot. Also when practicing paddle tennis, 'sprints' are usually made forward when they make us a drop. Or many changes of direction are used, where that muscle is very stressed and being so shortened, there may be problems of muscle injury, muscle fiber ruptures, or even the Achilles tendon itself rupturing. That is why it is very important to stretch the entire chain of muscles in the calf area a lot.
• Another key point, the knee and the patellar tendon. In this sport there are many shots where you try to cut the ball a lot to give it a lot of effect and not bounce much, so it is usually played very low. When bouncing the ball little, the player has to lower a lot, and bend the knees a lot to be able to hit correctly. That requires us to have a lot of strength in the quadriceps. If we do not have it because I am not well trained, we must lower our back, flex our back forwards in order to hit the ball. This in turn will lead to another type of injury. Back problems derived from playing paddle tennis.
• Another point susceptible to injury would be the shoulder. Especially the players who want hit him  a lot to the ball. Take it out by three or four, or bring it to your field. The fact of hitting the ball very hard, requires a lot of strength in the trunk and arm muscles and if we do not have very strong shoulder structure, we can have injuries. The entire shoulder complex must be strongly reinforced.
• Very important also, the elbow. If our technique is not very correct and the force of the forearm is used a lot to generate the effects on the ball and that causes the muscles of the forearm to be overworked and begin to contract.

To finish, we must also take into account these other factors:

• Wear a type of footwear suitable for playing paddle tennis. The sole has to have a special shape that does not stop us suddenly and that does not slip too much. And have side reinforcements to avoid injuries to the ankle.
• It is important to choose the right shovel. Not always the best shovel that exists in the market is the one that works for us. Depending on the physical characteristics and the style of play of the person, one or another type of shovel will be required.
• We need to have a minimum of physical condition to be able to withstand the demands of paddle tennis. It is important to think that if it is not good when we start to play we will be fresh, but as fatigue appears my movements will be worse ”.

If you want to watch the video with the interview that World Pádel Tour did to the three members of the technical staff of Fernando Belasteguín-Pablo Lima, you just have to click on this link.

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